Carolyn Cavecche: College district changes its tune

Is it just me, or does it seem like, in just about every election, we are forced to decide if we want to increase our taxes?

This past November was no different. As a result, Californians now are some of the highest-taxed individuals in the United States. However, those dollars never seem to make their way back to Orange County, so we are also asked to pass local tax initiatives, like the school bond measures voters in multiple school districts examined in the 2012 General Election.

The Orange County Taxpayers Association neither supports nor opposes school bond ballot measures because we think taxpayers in individual districts can best judge whether additional funding for school capital projects is really needed. We do recommend voters insist that every school bond measure meet a list of 13 specific criteria so that they can make an educated decision.

Some of those specific standards include:

• A clear need to build or modernize facilities and a documented list of projects to be completed;

• Facilities to be built will have a useful life at least as long as the terms of the bonds;

• Projects to be funded are capital facilities;

• There will be an annual outside audit of bond proceeds and expenditures, and;

• The district will appoint an oversight committee of property-tax payers in the district to verify that bond funds are spent correctly.

Taxpayers deserve to know how their dollars are going to be spent, and they deserve assurance that it will be done in a responsible and transparent manner.

OCTax's criteria also asks that the bond measure states clearly whether the district plans to build and maintain its bond-financed facilities under a Project Labor Agreement. PLAs are prehiring collective bargaining agreements with labor unions that usually establish terms for employment. This typically means workers are hired through union halls or are paid union wages.

During this past election, Coast Community College District placed a $698 million bond initiative, Measure M, on the ballot, and requested that OCTax verify that it met our criteria. The only issue we found was that Measure M was silent on the use of Project Labor Agreements. We specifically asked district staff about this issue and were assured, "We do not have PLA's in place nor do we intend to enter into a PLA." Again, OCTax simply wanted voters to have all the information they need to cast their vote.

During the election, Coast Community College District publicized that they had met the OCTax school bond criteria, and Measure M passed at 57 percent.

Now, it seems that a minority of the Coast Community College District Board of Trustees has placed approval of a Project Labor Agreement on the upcoming agenda.

The taxpayers and voters of the Coast Community College District, which includes Orange Coast College, Golden West College and Coastline Community College, should feel betrayed by this minority of the board. With the explosive increase in tax burdens many Californians are staggering under, we have a right to expect transparency and clarity in what we are paying for and what we are gaining from those dollars. If they intended to enter into a PLA, it should have been clearly stated in the bond measure, so that voters could have judged the initiative based on facts.